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[engineer28]

Just wanted to report a complete motor failure on a Zero XU 2.8 after < 6000 miles.

Some details:
~5500 miles on the ODO after about 1 year of driving
Drive every day as a primary vehicle, twice a day, ~10 miles each way

While driving to work at about 35 mph the motor made a sort of grinding feeling/noise and quickly slowed to a stop (tire did not lockup, thankfully).  After this, the motor became very high resistance to move/push.  I have been without bike for a couple weeks now while the dealer is waiting on a replacement motor to be shipped from Zero.

Other issues seen so far:
-Front fork leaking after about 3000-4000 miles (not covered by warranty)
-Battery recalled for sealing issue, replacement battery has roughly 10-15% less capacity than original
-Firmware experienced occasional glitches when starting the bike, cutting out and displaying 0% even on a full charge, etc.
-Experienced a charging issue where the battery would not charge, BMS replaced under warranty.

I have to say after being very excited for this bike, and enjoying driving it on a daily basis (I still really enjoy it) - it seems almost every major component (suspension, battery, motor, controller) has had issues.  This is a bit disheartening as one of the primary reasons for purchasing this bike was the "maintenance free" aspect and "higher reliability" vs. a gas bike.  I suppose this is the burden of an early adopter. 

Zero seems to have a lot of promise and I hope they continue to make new bikes, hopefully they can get their quality control in line.

[trekguy]

I feel for you, buddy.

Wouldn't it be nice if this company had Honda reliability?  I hope Zero stands behind their product and you have little inconvienence.

[vchampain]

Ouch. A few hints:
   - did you contact your dealer/zero on this motor issue ? Did you try to understand the root cause of this problem with them ?
   - the "not covered by warranty" is generally used in a very abusive way - if it is clear that the issue is common and that the product is responsible for it (and not the way you used it), it is makers & dealers' responsability to provide you a product that fulfill expectations. What they write in their "warranty" agreement do not cover them against "hidden defect", and is often full of unlmawfull statement.
   - considered the number of issues you encountered you can probably have a reasonnable case starting a discussion with Zero to find an acceptable solution

In most developped countries (and the US's legislation is by far one of the more protective for consumers) even early adopters have a full right to a product fulfilling promises, or a fix, or a refund. Most companies/dealers usually try to "bully" customers into accepting being "benevolent beta testers", but this is not something you have to accept.

Having an innovative bike that have a few defect is ok if the seller fix them and excuses for this. If it is not the case, you should not accept this. And it is not Zero's interest to have customer stuck with a bike after 5000 miles because we all know that long term product & concept are great. You should not accept this, neither should them. Please PM me if you need more guidance on how to manage this. Good luck !

Vincent

[engineer28]

Hi Vincent,

Just to be clear, the motor is covered under warranty.  In general Zero has been very good backing their warranty -- the battery, motor and BMS were all things they covered without any fuss.  The biggest issue is just the bike has been in the shop so many times since I got it, which is somewhat of an inconvenience since it is my primary (and only) vehicle.  Ironically I bought the bike so I wouldn't have to take it in to the dealer for routine maintenance 

Only the fork seals were not covered by warranty as they were deemed a "normal wear item", mainly I am just mentioning it because it seemed to be pretty early for fork seals to be failing.

[CliC]

My fork seals (and the subsequent replacement forks) were all covered under warranty, fyi. Neither Zero nor I felt they should have been leaking at <2000 miles.